Ray’s Heroes of the Day: Two Middletown men fight house fire

Risking their own lives is part of the job of anyone involved as a first responder.
But it goes beyond the realm of a job and becomes an act of heroism when ordinary citizens take it upon themselves to break into a home about to be engulfed in flames.

Once there and having found no one inside, they then took it upon themselves to fight the fire with a garden hose.

Fire departments arrived on the scene shortly after a call was made, but police are crediting the quick-thinking neighbors with helping to fight the house fire, and also making sure no residents were home at the time.

The saga began when the duo was unloading some equipment from a truck by Battaglioli’s residence, which is across the street from the scene of the fire.

While doing so, both smelled smoke but saw nothing for about a good 20 minutes.
Once they did see smoke and noticed a car in the driveway, their first impulse was to kick in the door to find out if anyone was inside.

Satisfied that no one was there, they grabbed a garden hose and began dousing the flames until firemen arrived.